Chamber and committees

Well, you are looking at a hypothetical situation in the future.

Indeed, and that is exactly why the discussions that we have will vary from institution to institution. Although you understandably point to the difference from the rest of the UK, there is also great variation within Scotland.

You have mentioned the work on international students that is already happening with the university sector—those discussions are happening at all levels of Government to ensure that everybody is aware of and is sharing information about risks and that institutions are cognisant of them. Because they are independent of Government, the Government cannot insist on changes—nor should we—but I think that everybody in Government and in the institutions is very live to the points that you have made.

The £26 million is a welcome addition to what the sector perhaps expected before the budget was announced. The Funding Council has a role to work with Colleges Scotland and with the colleges to ensure that allocations are provided and that that supports colleges in the best way that we can.

I do not in any way decry the concerns from principals that this is an exceptionally tight time for them and that colleges may need to take difficult decisions. In the budget process, we have increased the funding—that was not expected when we set out the resource spending review, but we have done that.

We will work closely with colleges. The point about flexibilities is important. Colleges often say that they are hampered in taking budgetary decisions by how allocations are made and by the funding settlement. If we can assist them in the process by giving them more flexibility and allowing them to use funding more innovatively than they perhaps could under our tighter—or more rigid, I should say—controls in the past, we are really keen to look at that. As I said to Mr Kerr, that work is on-going.

I will broaden out the question from that very hypothetical situation.

There are areas that the Scottish Government controls and there are areas that we do not.

Those decisions are taken by the research councils, and the amount of funding will vary from year to year.

Clearly, we do what we can within the Scottish Government research budget to ensure that we support universities, but decisions on UK-wide funding are not for the Government to influence or dictate. We obviously keep a close eye on research funding, and we have continuous discussions with the sector to see what can be done by Government to improve it.

We will work with every single public body, based on their priorities for the next year. Regardless of whether we are talking about core Government departments or our public agencies, we need to ensure that we are driving maximum efficiency and spending our money as effectively as possible. Within Government, we have sponsorship teams for every public body that we work with, and we will collaborate with those bodies to ensure that the Government is still delivering on our commitments in the most effective manner possible. Of course, the approach will vary from one public body to another, depending on their circumstances.

It is also important that we continue to encourage reform within our public bodies to ensure that we make changes that are necessary to deliver services as effectively and efficiently as possible. An overall reform process is being encouraged to ensure that such decisions are taken in the best possible way. As I have said, there will be variation among public bodies, but nowhere in Government will be immune to the challenges that are posed by the budget that has been set, and no one will be immune from having to take difficult decisions during that time.

Yes.

A number of areas will assist with reducing the cost of the school day. One important aspect of that is free school meals. I mentioned earlier that the move to SCP eligibility in primaries 6 and 7 should mean that more than 300,000 children in Scotland will benefit from free school meals. That is a really important package, and we are looking to support other areas of work. We are increasing the school clothing grant by the rate of inflation, and work is being done around core curriculum charges. We are assisting children and young people and their families with the cost of the school day.

A lot of work is also done to ensure that schools and local authorities overall have a much greater awareness and understanding of the implications of the costs of the school day and what they can do to assist with, for example, the ways in which, over a year, families will be asked to contribute, albeit voluntarily, to aspects of school activity. Again, that impacts on families’ budgets.

I expect to see progress in the year that we are in, quite frankly, given that we started off the year with a shared understanding about what that money would be for. Therefore, I expect to see that progress.

I appreciate that increasing teacher numbers is but one way that we can improve education, but it is a very important way. With COSLA, I am more than happy to discuss the number of ways in which we can improve education for children. It is not just about teacher numbers, but teacher numbers are exceptionally important. If we start off with a shared understanding of what the money is for, I expect it to be used in that fashion.